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Nuclear fusion

Nuclear fusion

The long road to ignition

20 Apr 2017 Margaret Harris

The “break-even” point of inertial confinement fusion remains elusive, but slow and steady progress may yet win the race, as Margaret Harris reports

Photo of the target chamber at the National Ignition Facility. The photo is mostly in black-and-white, with the chamber showing up as a bright blue sphere at the centre of the photo. The chamber is surrounded by laser beamlines, which are long metal boxes that enclose the laser beam and optics. The photo also shows metal access stairs and catwalks, and metal structures supporting the beamlines and instrumentation
Concentrated energy Laser beamlines at the National Ignition Facility entering the lower hemisphere of the NIF target chamber. (Courtesy: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)
In an alternative universe, the quest for fusion energy passed a major milestone sometime in the clo

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